Is it possible to contribute idle CPU time, to projects such as the World Community Grid, and practice green computing? While I wouldn't be considered too green, as you can have my high-end CRT when its pried from my cold dead fingers, I have been exploring such things by leaving KPowersave running on my new computer.

When a UPS dies is it time to buy/build a new computer? If that computer has survived through the expected life of two home-class UPSes, then yes in my case. I've built my own workstations since the 486 days and tended toward moderately high-end gaming/video rigs. But keeping a house up has eaten into the tinkering time I once had.

A while back I got the itch for a new MP3 player, seeing everyone else seemed to have those little white rectangle things and white wires leading up to their ears. My RCA Lyra, the first one produced, had served me well but was starting to show its age. (It is okay to laugh, just call me a frugal gadget geek.) Actually this was somewhat fueled by a change in jobs that put me in an environment I felt I could occasionally listen to music at work.